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Chapter Introduction Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies Chapter Introduction ® Book Title: The American Pageant: A History of the American People AP Edition Printed By: Valerie Nimeskern ([email protected]) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning Chapter Introduction God hath sifted a nation that he might send Choice Grain into this Wilderness. William Stoughton [of Maachuett a], 1699 Although colonists both north and south were bound together by a common language and a common allegiance to Mother England, they established different patterns of settlement, different economies, different political systems, and even different sets of values—defining distinctive regional characteristics that would persist for generations. The promise of riches—especially from golden-leaved tobacco—drew the first settlers to the southern colonies. But to the north, in the fertile valleys of the middle Atlantic region and especially along the rocky shores of New England, it was not worldly wealth but religious devotion that principally shaped the earliest settlements. Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies Chapter Introduction ® Book Title: The American Pageant: A History of the American People AP Edition Printed By: Valerie Nimeskern ([email protected]) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning © 2016 Cengage Learning Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may by reproduced or used in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, or in any other manner - without the written permission of the copyright holder. Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies: 3.1 The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism ® Book Title: The American Pageant: A History of the American People AP Edition Printed By: Valerie Nimeskern ([email protected]) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning 3.1 The Protetant Reformation Produce Puritanim Little did the German friar Martin Luther ((1483-1546) German friar who touched off the Protestant Reformation when he nailed a list of grievances against the Catholic Church to the door of Wittenberg's cathedral in 1517.) suspect, when he nailed his protests against Catholic doctrines to the door of Wittenberg’s cathedral in 1517, that he was shaping the destiny of a yet unknown nation. Denouncing the authority of priests and popes, Luther declared that the Bible alone was the source of God’s word. He ignited a fire of religious reform (the “Protestant Reformation”) that licked its way across Europe for more than a century, dividing peoples, toppling sovereigns, and kindling the spiritual fervor of millions of men and women—some of whom helped to found America. The reforming flame burned especially brightly in the bosom of John Calvin ((1509-1564) French Protestant reformer whose religious teachings formed the theological basis for New England Puritans, Scottish Presbyterians, French Huguenots, and members of the Dutch Reformed Church. Calvin argued that humans were inherently weak and wicked, and he believed in an all-knowing, all-powerful God who predestined select individuals for salvation.) of Geneva. This somber and severe religious leader elaborated Martin Luther’s ideas in ways that profoundly affected the thought and character of generations of Americans yet unborn. Calvinism (Dominant theological credo of the New England Puritans based on the teachings of John Calvin. Calvinists believed in predestination–that only "the elect" were destined for salvation.) became the dominant theological credo not only of the New England Puritans but of other American settlers as well, including the Scottish Presbyterians, French Huguenots, and communicants of the Dutch Reformed Church. Calvin spelled out his basic doctrine in a learned Latin tome of 1536, entitled Institutes of the Christian Religion. God, Calvin argued, was all-powerful and all-good. Humans, because of the corrupting effect of original sin, were weak and wicked. God was also all-knowing— and he knew who was going to heaven and who was going to hell. Since the first moment of creation, some souls—the elect—had been destined for eternal bliss and others for eternal torment. Good works could not save those whom predestination (Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned. Though their fate was irreversible, Calvinists, particularly those who believed they were destined for salvation, sought to lead sanctified lives in order to demonstrate to others that they were in fact members of the "elect.") had marked for the infernal fires. But neither could the elect count on their predetermined salvation and lead lives of wild, immoral abandon. For one thing, no one could be certain of his or her status in the heavenly ledger. Gnawing doubts about their eternal fate plagued Calvinists. They constantly sought, in themselves and others, signs of conversion (Intense religious experience that confirmed an individual's place among the "elect," or the "visible saints." Calvinists who experienced conversion were then expected to lead sanctified lives to demonstrate their salvation.) , or the receipt of God’s free gift of saving grace. Conversion was thought to be an intense, identifiable personal experience in which God revealed to the elect their heavenly destiny. Thereafter they were expected to lead “sanctified” lives, demonstrating by their holy behavior that they were among the “visiblesaints.” These doctrines swept into England just as King Henry VIII was breaking his ties with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, making himself the head of the Church of England. Henry would have been content to retain Roman rituals and creeds, but his action powerfully stimulated some English religious reformers to undertake a total purification of English Christianity. Many of these Puritans (English Protestant reformers who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic rituals and creeds. Some of the most devout Puritans believed that only "visible saints" should be admitted to church membership.) , as it happened, came from the commercially depressed woolen districts (see “England on the Eve of Empire” in Chapter 2). Calvinism, with its message of stark but reassuring order in the divine plan, fed on this social unrest and provided spiritual comfort to the economically disadvantaged. As time went on, Puritans grew increasingly unhappy over the snail-like progress of the Protestant Reformation in England. They burned with pious zeal to see the Church of England wholly de-catholicized. The most devout Puritans, including those who eventually settled New England, believed that only “visible saints” (that is, persons who felt the stirrings of grace in their souls and could demonstrate its presence to their fellow Puritans) should be admitted to church membership. But the Church of England enrolled all the king’s subjects, which meant that the “saints” had to share pews and communion rails with the “damned.” Appalled by this unholy fraternizing, a tiny group of dedicated Puritans, known as Separatists (Small group of Puritans who sought to break away entirely from the Church of England; after initially settling in Holland, a number of English Separatists made their way to Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts, in 1620.) , vowed to break away entirely from the Church of England. King James I, a shrewd Scotsman, was head of both the state and the church in England from 1603 to 1625. He quickly perceived that if his subjects could defy him as their spiritual leader, they might one day defy him as their political leader (as in fact they would later defy and behead his son, Charles I). He therefore threatened to harass the more bothersome Separatists out of the land. Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies: 3.1 The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism ® Book Title: The American Pageant: A History of the American People AP Edition Printed By: Valerie Nimeskern ([email protected]) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning © 2016 Cengage Learning Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may by reproduced or used in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, or in any other manner - without the written permission of the copyright holder. Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies: 3.2 The Pilgrims End Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth ® Book Title: The American Pageant: A History of the American People AP Edition Printed By: Valerie Nimeskern ([email protected]) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning 3.2 The Pilgrim nd Their Pilgrimage at Plmouth The most famous congregation of Separatists, fleeing royal wrath, departed for Holland in 1608. During the ensuing twelve years of toil and poverty, they were increasingly distressed by the “Dutchification” of their children. They longed to find a haven where they could live and die as English men and women—and as purified Protestants. America was the logical refuge, despite the early ordeals of Jamestown and despite tales of New World cannibals roasting steaks from their white victims over open fires. A group of the Separatists in Holland, after negotiating with the Virginia Company, at length secured rights to settle under its jurisdiction. But their crowded Mayflower, sixty-five days at sea, missed its destination and arrived off the stony coast of New England in 1620 with a total of 102 persons. One had died en route—an unusually short casualty list—and one had been born and appropriately named Oceanus. Fewer than half of the entire party were Separatists. Prominent among the nonbelongers was a peppery
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